UCF has now entered the realm of big-boy recruiting

UCF coach George O'Leary is interviewed after the Knights'… (Joshua C. Cruey, Orlando…)

February 5, 2014|Mike Bianchi, SPORTS COMMENTARY

First, they went on the road during the regular season and beat Penn State, a storied program from the mighty Big Ten.

Then in the postseason, they traveled to the Fiesta Bowl and dismantled Baylor, a high-flying team from the powerful Big 12.

Then on National Signing Day, they went on the recruiting trail and beat out big bad Alabama from the high-and-mighty Southeastern Conference for safety Chris Williams of Camden County (Ga.) High School.

His Twitter grammar notwithstanding, Williams is symbolic of what this historically unprecedented season has meant for UCF. It not only put the school on the national map, it put the Knights name on the lips of national recruits.

"The success we've had in the last few years and being on the national stage this past season has obviously helped put our brand in front of recruits," said UCF linebackers coach Tyson Summers, the assistant whom head coach George O'Leary credited with convincing Williams that UCF, not Alabama, was the place to be.

"Winning a BCS bowl and the national exposure we got this season helped us close like never before," said UCF offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Brent Key.

For the first time he can remember, Key says UCF was able to hold onto essentially every commitment during the last three or four days of the recruiting process. Incredibly, the Knights took Williams from Alabama during this recruiting period, they took massive defensive tackle Jamiyus Pittman from Mississippi State and they held off Ohio State and Georgia Tech to sign gifted defensive back Mike Rogers.

No doubt, this past season opened recruiting doors for UCF, but O'Leary knows the Knights still have a long way to go before they can consistently go toe-to-toe with the big boys for the top recruits. A perfect example is explosive South Dade wide receiver C.J. Worton, the brother of UCF receiving star J.J. Worton. C.J. briefly considered UCF but in the end chose Florida over Florida State on Wednesday.

The recruiting services ranked FSU and UF as consensus top 10 classes while Miami was just out of the top 10. UCF, as always, wasn't even ranked in the top 50.

Part of the reason for UCF's relatively low ranking is because the Knights are still enduring NCAA scholarship sanctions and were only able to sign 17 players Wednesday. But there's also this: O'Leary and his staff have a knack of identifying talent that other schools don't recognize (see quarterback Blake Bortles, who might be the first pick in the upcoming NFL draft).

"We take kids based on potential — not where they are now, but where we see them two years from now in our program," O'Leary said. "We take a lot of kids who might not be ranked as high in some people's opinion, but in our opinion they're going to be good football players."

O'Leary has never put a whole lot of faith in the rankings or the arbitrary star system that many of the recruiting services utilize. You need to look no further than Gainesville, where the University of Florida is tied with Alabama for the most four- and five-star players signed over the last four seasons.

The Gators and the Knights perfectly illustrate what a crap shoot the recruiting game is. Former Sentinel colleague Mike Huguenin, who now covers college football for NFL.com, did a statistical analysis in which he broke down recruiting rankings over the last five years. Among his findings: UCF's average recruiting ranking was 72nd while Florida's was 5th. On the field, the Knights just finished 12-1 with a school-first BCS bowl victory. The Gators just finished 4-8 with their first losing season in 34 years.

It's like former Texas basketball Abe Lemons once said about some of the five-star flops he used to sign.

"Just once," Lemons cracked, "I'd like to see a picture of one of these guys with the caption underneath it: 'He's a dog. Ate up $8,000 worth of groceries in four years and can't play a lick.' "

UCF no doubt attracted a higher caliber of recruit on this National Signing Day, but the question now remains:

Are these guys going to deliver the groceries or just eat them?

mbianchi@tribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @BianchiWrites. Listen to his radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on 740 AM.